By Kiara Rudder
The Ram in the Rye hit capacity last night due to the DragBack event presented by RyePride and the Trans Collective.
“We hit capacity twice, it was one of the best turnouts in the last six months for an event hosted at the Ram in the Rye,” Joshin Marriott, one of the organizers of DragBack, said.
The DragBack event was a drag show which included performances of stand up comedy, dancing, and singing routines from drag king, Tiddie Smalls, and drag queens Luna Dubois and Miss Steak. The night was concluded with a dance party until 2 a.m in the Ram in the Rye.
The Trans Collective and RyePride team wanted to make this an enjoyable, and inclusive event for all students. According to Marriott, they specifically booked trans-friendly and queer-friendly people to work at the event, including the DJ, as well as a diverse range of drag queens and kings from different backgrounds. All of whom are aware of what is happening in their communitiy and want to make a change.
This free event is usually hosted during the summer. However, this year Marriott proposed to host it during the winter, while students will be in school and on campus. Having DragBack during the winter, resulted in a much higher turnout compared to the summer event.
“To do a test event like this, and for it to be so well reciprocated, it shows that Ryerson wants events like this,” Marriott said.
“I love watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, so being able to see drag queens in person was such a cool experience,” said Cherelle Clarke, a first-year student from the audience said.
One of the performers and drag queens, Luna Dubois agreed that winter is the perfect time to host DragBack because everyone is here for school. It was Dubois first time performing at a university.
“It was amazing… I was not sure what to expect but it was mind-blowing… the crowd was amazing,” Dubois said.
Dubois and Marriott both said that drag shows are important to the LGBTQ+ community.
“Drag queens fought for the rights that we have today,” Dubois said. “What we do is not easy.”
“Drag queens fought for the rights that we have today”
“It is an important part of the culture, its apart of the history, it helped LGBTQ(+) people to get away from the issues that they were facing way back,” Marriott said.
Marriott said that another drag show will definitely happen again at Ryerson University.
“I was really happy to know that Ryerson has the capacity to have a drag performance, and have students get excited about events like this,” Marriott said.
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